Shalom House trustees have quashed rumours that they haven't got planning permission for the respite care home under completion in St Davids.

Chairman and trustee Arwel Davies insists that the main cause for recent misunderstandings is the use of the word hospice.

He said: "What we have planning permission for is provision of palliative care on a respite basis.

"In the dictionary respite means an interval of rest or relief. This is exactly what Shalom will be designed to provide."

Margaret Burnett, MBE, founding trustee of Shalom, added that people would be coming to Shalom for a short period of time in which they would receive help from the nurses with pain and symptom control.

"It will mean that families and carers who are frequently at the end of their tether will get a break," she said.

A link will also be forged with ward ten in Withybush Hospital.

Margaret explained: "If there is someone in ward ten who can't be discharged due to having no care package at home, they can come to Shalom for up to 14 days until things are sorted out.

"People can stay for a couple of days or two weeks but certainly not years."

Arwel Davies concluded: "We are drawing a line under our past differences with Paul Sartori. Shalom is alive and well on the way to completion. We are on schedule and aim to open in January 2007."